Paul Nash’s Monster Field

As a further reaction to Maria‘s insect-tree picture, I looked up some of Paul Nash’s responses to trees.

Paul Nash once wrote that he tried to paint trees as though they were human ­beings. These photos were taken by him in 1938 and show his fascination with tree forms and the suggestiveness of an animal life and a strange, alien intelligence they sometimes evoke.

Abstraction and Surrealism were not happily embraced in England, but Nash was always aware of European trends. In 1938 Nash was one of the organisers of the International Surrealist Exhibition in London, which featured Dalí, André Breton and Miró, and caused something of a stir. One article dubbed Nash “English surrealist-in-chief”.

“There are places, just as there are people and objects… whose relationship of parts creates a mystery.”  Paul Nash

Both Paul Nash and Maria, by highlighting a tree form and taking it out of its objective context, gives it new characteristics such as menace, creepiness etc. This is the basis of Surrealism, and its effect relies on the reaction it evokes in us. We find ourselves seeing an sentient, insect-like creature, rather than merely a tree that has fallen.

Our responses when Maria posted her picture up on fb Messenger prove how effective it is.

This is Monster Field, the picture Nash painted as a response to the fallen tree he photographed. The pink sky adds to the alien feel.

Event on the Downs (below) is one of Nash’s most well-known Surrealist pictures. The incongruity of the log, the ball – startlingly large – and the landscape create a mystery.

As artists we are inclined to be attracted to trees as form, rather than something biological. So dead trees, stumps, logs, etc are all just as interesting as a standard healthy tree, and I think part of our job is to bring out these qualities of personality, mystery and surrealism.